Canadian Sets in Utah

[Joseph Bento]

Hello,

I am a new member of the CVRS from Pleasant Grove, Utah. I have a small, but growing collection of Canadian sets. I was introduced to Canadian radios via a Facebook friend from Québec City that shares a common interest in restoring antique radios. Once I saw his collection of radios, I knew I needed to attempt to add a few Canadian sets to my own collection. It’s not easy. Not too many Canadian radios crossed south of the 49th.

Shown is my current collection of Canadian sets. All have been electronically restored and are fully operational.

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[Don]

Nice work and collection, Joseph! Do you have a particular make/area/era that you focus on in your overall collection? And welcome to the CVRS!

[Joseph Bento]

Hi Don,

I used to buy virtually anything with tubes. Now, I typically like pre-war sets and battery sets (farm radios) that were still in use prior to rural electrification. You’ll see two examples of those in my photos with the Marconi 227A and 193.

I do have several Zenith consoles and a couple Philco cathedrals, though these are all US models.

I’d love to eventually acquire a couple Canadian consoles, though that may one day require a road trip to Canada. Not many Canadian sets made it south of the border.

Anyhow, as a new member, I hope to gain more knowledge of the various Canadian manufactures. They certainly manufactured some beautiful sets!

[Don]

I suspect it would be interesting also to see a Canada-US collection with the Canadian and US counterparts both for companies like RCA, Westinghouse who in many cases seem to have just changed the model/chassis numbers, and parallel companies like Western/Northern Electric. Also for companies like All American that bought out companies like Mohawk here. See what they did when they moved north. There are some other US CVRS members, located from Kansas to Texas. Maybe if they spot this conversation, they can let you know some possibilities of finding Canadian models in the US, and save you the trip north!

[Joseph Bento]

There is this set, a Farnsworth GT-051, brother to the Northern Electric 5508 “Midge”. I would love to add the Northern Electric set to my collection to display next to the Farnsworth GT-051. The Farnsworth uses the octal tube set, while I believe the Northern Electric used miniature tubes.

Anyone have a 5508 they would like to part with at a reasonable price? 🙂

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